Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. Here's some photos of the family trek to get our tree.

No dogs were harmed (despite the long face) and many more trees will be planted in the Spring--safely back from the beaver lodges. I wonder if putting the word beaver in a post will affect my hit count?

Prepping the cart

Off we go

The right tree (already in the path of beaver destruction!)

Loaded up (try smiling Neptune!)

Back through the paddock

Tractor Safety 101

This is the key fob for my new tractor. Apparently I'm not supposed to run children over. Good thing I looked at the fob. On the other side it seems to be telling me that women and children should be locked up in the house where they won't be tempted to run in front of me.

Husqvarna 1, Trail 0

Neptune runs on my new trail!

I've spent an hour or so the last few evenings out in the bush cutting trails for my mountain bike. It's pretty hard but rewarding as you make some progress. I've cut about 1200 metres in and I'll have to go back and chainsaw out some of the fallen trees. I'm getting the feeling I'll be spending more time cutting trails than riding them this year. It's all an investment for next season.
Had a bit of a Blair Witch moment late last night when I ran out of gas and the sun had gone down. Had to walk back in the dark without a running brushcutter to protect myself from bears which I was pretty sure had me surrounded.

Studio Tour, Part 3

I like old stuff. My computer equipment sits on a pioneer table and a harvest table from the early 1900's. My rapidographs and some other rarely used art stuff are stored under the harvest table (not shown) in a wooden bren gun ammo box from the first World War. I think you can see it in the pic from Part 1, and also you can see my Hudson Bay Trapper Point wool blanket from the 1940's which is awesome. I sit at my drawing table on a surprisingly comfortable cottage chair from the 1950's. And I used to draw on a huge Leonar Italian drafting table from about 1965-69. I swapped it out for the small table I'm using now because I had to use a really really tall stool to sit at it and that made it hard to reach all the other stuff I like to have at hand. The Leonar is stored in the basement, I halfway restored it by refinishing the tabletop and painting over the institutional grey base. I will try and set it up at the new studio--we'll see how it goes because the space is quite a bit smaller.
Some things to note from this photo, starting left to right: A3 scanner with cord dangling down to computer. I used to care a lot about what was in my computer and would put them together myself, but I really couldn't tell you what's in this. I bought it already put together and it works. I had a bad experience with Alienware customer service about 8 years ago and it put me off caring about what I was using. Next there's the photo of one of my dogs in a cowboy boot frame which cracks me up. Behind that is a creepy head I check for lightingsometimes when I'm drawing a face. I've named him Pin. (You probably need to be a Canadian horror movie buff to get that). There's two monitors there, one LCD one CRT. I have a Wacom tablet. Oh, there's a pretty sweet Playboy club ashtray in a 1970's shade of orange. Sitting on the external hard drive is a nostalgic "professional" badge from the first Wizard World that I got a pro badge (they'll give those out to anyone apparently!). On the right there's a picture of the best Newfoundland dog in the world, Neptune and a classy scorpion encased in acrylic.
Wow, I move exactly one week from today. Time to start packing.

Studio Tour, Part 2

Top picture is the view of the lake from the studio window. Blocked pretty much by trees but I would never cut them down--they're about 70 year old white pines that have trunks that are about three feet across at the base.
Bottom picture is of 2 of my bikes. They're kept here because we don't have a garage, and well, to be honest I like to stare at them. I'm sad I know. I have a racier aluminum hardtail stored in the basement with a bunch of other bikes but these two are the ones I ride the most.
In the back is a Norco CCX cyclocross bike. Like a road bike but with narrow knobby tires and disc brakes. Some nice Ritchey WCS upgrades and a carbon fibre TruVativ Rouleur crankset. The Jamis frame is brand new this year after I broke my Specialized last season. All the parts are swapped over from the Specialized. Highlights: XT/XTR group, Hydraulic disc brakes, and a Mavic tubeless wheelset with Kenda Nevegals.
In the right corner are my golf clubs. I didn't take a picture of my weight set because it is boring.

Studio Tour, Part 1

click to enlarge

Sad news (sort of): I'm currently packing up my workspace (and home) to move to a new location. I'm really going to miss this room I've made for myself here, I've sort of got everything the way I want it. So I've just started packing and I thought I'd document it before I got it cleared out. Please excuse the mess (although it is rarely tidy anyway), and at least I removed the 9 empty coffee mugs before I took the pictures!

1. Weight bench
2. Bikes leaning against fireplace
3. Drawing area
4. Computer area

More to follow...

Let It Snow

Last year we were spoiled with very little snow. I went mountain biking last Christmas Eve! This year is a little different. We've been getting massive downfall after downfall. How much snow?

This much snow.


The view from my studio window. I wish I skied.

So after a long hike with the dogs through trails 3-4 feet deep with snow I came home and wanted to draw something that took me away from all the cold. CBR had a drawing jam for Caitlin Fairchild. Boy, was I was glad to draw this: San Diego, palm trees, surfers (obviously returning from a great day out on the water), an awesome microbus. Oh, and Caitlin Fairchild.

Kids these days and their darn iPods!

It's done super light and loose in 4H. I can't wait to flesh it out but I've got a really busy schedule in the coming weeks. It's going to be a very long winter so this will be a great diversion come February (the worst month up here for weather).

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Duke the Pig

We had a friend come over for dinner the other night whom we hadn't seen over the summer. In that time she somehow managed to acquire a pot-belly pig.

Here's one of my dogs, Neptune, taste-testing Duke:

This bacon is undercooked.

My wife holding the pig:

No we are not getting one.

Pigs can be quite aggressive, and though Duke isn't like that at all, I guess he had enough of a 120lb. dog licking his back for 2 hours and decided to do something about it. And while Neptune can come across as a brave and stoic dog he does lean towards high-pitched hysterics in times of stress. Think Magnum P.I. in a haunted house. From the screaming I assumed that Duke had somehow bit into Neptune's left ventricle, but on closer inspection (on the safety of the sofa) no mark at all was found. Neptune did leave the pig alone for the rest of the evening. And will forever.

Anyway, here's how I'm sure Neptune will describe Duke to all his dog friends...